Well the two of you have a ATi 4000 series cards, and have frame skipping, it may be that the game somehow, doesn't work better on 4000 series ATi cards. I saw users with new ATi and Nvidia cards, like 400 or 500 series and 6000 series(ATi) and they don't have problems, well most of them.
WaltC said:Game runs very nicely for me--no frame skipping that I can see, and I'm running at 1920x1080, max IQ settings all around except, of course, for Ubersampling, which is turned off. The game runs at an average of 25-35 fps, with occasional dips and spikes, as noted when I ran Fraps. My hardware specs are lower than yours:
Athlon X2 265 @ 2.9GHz
4GB DDR 2 @800MHz
ATi 5770 1GB running at slightly overclocked frequency of 900MHz/1300MHz (gpu/onboard ram), running 11.8 CATs
Win7 x64
--Oh, yes, let me also mention I'm also running MSE without a problem.
So...now that we have firmly established that the problem you are having is not related to your hardware, all that remains is software (assuming you do not have some kind of a hardware problem, which isn't likely, since your other games are running fine.)
The only thing I know of for a fact that will absolutely cause the frame-skipping you allude to is the Ubersampling setting in the advanced options. Turn that on and you are guaranteed a frame-skipping experience/extravaganza...Have you manipulated your Witcher 2 user.ini file, I wonder? Because if you have, the only way to keep that from resetting every time you start the game is to write protect the file--which would mean, if that file is still write protected, that even when you try and turn off Ubersampling from the advanced options screen it won't actually ever turn off, if you have enabled it in the user.ini file. So make sure that your user.ini file is not write protected, and then turn off Ubersampling from advanced options.
If that isn't it, then *something* you are running is, for some reason, massively conflicting with this game. Run MSConfig and check your start-up programs and uncheck (disable) all of them that you don't recognize or that you know you don't need, and then reboot (changing these settings does nothing without a reboot, as you likely know.)
Also, you might want to temporarily disable your network/internet connection to make sure that your network controller is not polling every few seconds and interfering with the game--but I doubt this is the case because you claim to have this problem only when running this game.
What you describe, though, really does sound exactly what happens in my system when I enable Ubersampling. If none of the above is of any use to you, then my last suggestion is for you to first of all set all of your system clocks back to default and reinstall the game (keeping your saves, of course, so you won't lose any forward progress.) Sometimes when software is installed via an overclocked cpu it may *seem* to properly install, but there were actually errors in the installation which crop up later when you try and run the software. I cannot emphasize this enough. People should realize that their cpus are not *validated* by either AMD or Intel to run 100% consistently at overclocked speeds. The manufacturer validates them *only* at their advertised MHz frequencies. Any higher than that, and all sorts of weird things can happen that don't seem to make sense. I know because it's happened to me--these days I do very little overclocking, if any.
Good luck!
Thanks for this in depth response, it does give a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately, I have tried all of them.
My current set up is a CLEAN install, with NO other games installed. I have disabled my anti-virus, and made sure that only core microsoft service are running. I also have tried to run the game on minimal settings, but the skipping is still there.
I have also verified the integrity of my windows files, they are all fine. I have Service Pack 1. I also do not have any external media plugged into my computer.
This leads me to conclude 3 possibilities...
1. I have some kind of hardware fault. Not drivers, as I have the latest for everything. But I'm thinking a either faulty RAM, or a bad PSU (ram being more likely). (Dany, I suggest running memtest86).
2. I don't know about Dany, but I have a Steam copy. Maybe this could be interfering with the game.
or 3. It's the game itself, and destined to not work propertly on our systems.
I am running tests tonight to check my hardware, I am also going to see if I can run steam in Offline mode and see if that makes any difference. Maybe its constantly trying to send online data and this could cause the skipping.
I'm also looking at creating a FRAPS video of the issue.
As a refresher, my spec:
AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.4ghz
Radeon HD 5750 1GB
1tb Sata 2 Drive
2gb DDR2 800mhz RAM
Foxconn A7VMX-K MOBO (Not a good mobo, but still should be fine)
I run game in 1920 x 1080 res.
From what I can see, All the ones reporting the problems were running ati 4xxx video cards. The ones that didn't were running the 5770 for the most part. I started this game with an HD5770 and running Avast! as well as SUPERantispyware ( the paid version ). It seems that the common factor with those having the problems, is the video card, so that is where I would look.
HeineT said:
Stuff I can think of:
From your published specs here it looks like you are running Crossfire (ATI HD radeon 4870 900MB*2.) If you haven't done it already, I would disable Crossfire and run the game with one card and see if that provides any relief. You might also want to uninstall whatever ATi profile you might also be running as well (I am running 11.7 CAP 3), as I think it just barely possible that the 1.3.5 patch may have broken something in the whatever CAP profile you might be running. Conversely, if you are running Crossfire and have not installed a CAP profile, then I would certainly try that before disabling Crossfire.
Also, check your swapfile configuration. Do you have them assigned to drives other than C:\? I do. If by chance you are running a set memory value I would change them to system managed. You probably already have done this stuff but it does occur to me...
Also, why are you running Vista x86? You realize that even though you have 4 gigs of ram installed you will be able to access only 3gigs of it...? I've forgotten whether your cpu is an x64--if it is, I would *highly* recommend you install Vista x64--everything is better all around. I had Vista Ultimate, too, prior to Win7, so I know you have a Vista x64 install disk which you should use if your cpu supports it.Sure sounds like something changed after you installed the patch, and a regular ~3 min skip-frame fest sure sounds to me like the 1.3.5 patch has interfered with some hardware somewhere in your system--which is polling about every three minutes. Egad--maybe 15-18 years ago I had a network controller card that caused those very symptoms--but with a modern OS like Vista/Win7 that sort of thing should never happen these days!...
Also, are you running a RAID configuration? I am, is the reason I ask. You might try that for greatly improved performance, but I'm not really convinced that a slow hard drive is behind your problems here.
CHecked bios settings? Made any changes there? If so, just flip some bits and see if by chance a different setting helps you out.
Ok--something else...if you are running something like Radeon Pro or ATi Tools and you're using these programs to start the game, and you by chance have D3d triple buffering enabled--I would try to setup and run the game outside of a utility like that. I say that because in Witcher 1 I noticed that the game didn't much like me to force D3d triple buffering, and that W1 looked and ran better without forcing D3d triple buffering.
I'm almost out of ideas, here, at the moment...
One last thing...I swear, if you mean that when the frame skipping starts you experience a period of 15 seconds or so before the game resumes, and that often this happens regularly--like every three minutes--it sure sounds like something is overheating to me! That would be the symptom, exactly, for an overheating gpu, for instance. You'd play normally until the heat threshold was crossed and then the system would freeze until it cooled again to workable temperatures, and the cycle would repeat--endlessly. This would also explain why sometimes you go 30 minutes until experiencing this condition: when your GPU is running a 3d game it is stressed differently by each game you play because of the way those games are coded to address the gpu, and even within just a single game, like W2, there will be areas you play through in the game that will stress the gpu more than others and areas that will stress it less--which would create irregular freezes, in that instance. I hope I've made this clear enough...W2 is *very* gpu intensive, it it might be that the W2 1.3.5 patch intensified that in some way that is causing your GPU to periodically overheat under certain conditions. You might try opening your case and running the game with the side panel off, and you might try ventilating the open case with a small room fan to increase the airflow and keep the gpu cooler. If that doesn't work, you could also go into the Catalysts and UNDERCLOCK the card by a fair margin to lower its operating temps that way, if all else fails.
'kay--all out of ideas. I hope you guys can get squared away on this--you shouldn't be having these problems! Best of luck! If I have any more ideas I'll surely share them as these are the worst kinds of problems to have!
Important update, and I would suggest that other users do the same as I.
I ran memtest86 and picked up 300000 errors on one of my ram modules, therefore the stick is faulty.. This will likely contribute to the skipping and occasional crashes. I would recommend everyone do the same if they are out of options. Also check HD for errors, and defrag.
I ran memtest86 and picked up 300000 errors on one of my ram modules, therefore the stick is faulty.. This will likely contribute to the skipping and occasional crashes. I would recommend everyone do the same if they are out of options. Also check HD for errors, and defrag.
(couldn't help from shooting forth)
Check if, its due to:
1. Voltage Throttling!! (decrease mem speeds on 48xx's and check)
2. Perceived frame rate while not playing the game with Vsync, as frame rate will increase and decrease at quick successions currently*
(if Vsync is a heavy hitter, check it up with Triple Buffering either from D3Doverrider, or Tommi SSAA tools, or Radeon Pro, or NvInspector; but you will experience a bit more mouse lag..could be 60 ms or more)
Check if, its due to:
1. Voltage Throttling!! (decrease mem speeds on 48xx's and check)
2. Perceived frame rate while not playing the game with Vsync, as frame rate will increase and decrease at quick successions currently*
(if Vsync is a heavy hitter, check it up with Triple Buffering either from D3Doverrider, or Tommi SSAA tools, or Radeon Pro, or NvInspector; but you will experience a bit more mouse lag..could be 60 ms or more)
I'm glad I'm not the only one having this problem, though it doesn't look like there's really been a good solution for it. The game is unplayably choppy and jerky for me, even if I set all settings to the lowest possible and set my resolution down to 1366x768. I usually play at 1920x1080 and run most games well at medium to low settings, most recently Deus Ex: HR.
Geforce GTX 280M with 1gb RAM
8gb system RAM
Quad core i7 1.6ghz processor
Geforce GTX 280M with 1gb RAM
8gb system RAM
Quad core i7 1.6ghz processor
Boomonster said:
Your processor speed is well below the minimum requirements for the game. It could be playable, but you may want to spend some time clearing out unneeded processes and services if you haven't already. Are you using gamebooster? It may help.
Not sure about that, it is a quad core processor. Thanks though, I'll keep looking around.
Uninstalling the 3D Vision drivers helped a ton. Pretty sure between that and other performance tweaks I can get it running well.
Lozzo87 said:
Having the same issue with an Nvidia card and a fresh install of Windows 7 with Microsoft Security Essentials as the only anti-virus running.
Everything looks great but Geralt's running animation in the tutorial keeps skipping frames and looks super jerky (not so much in the arena, although I wasn't paying attention).
Boomonster said:
Have the same system but with a 285m and 4GB of RAM.
I can run all multiplatform games on high at 1920x1080 usually but the Witcher 2 only maintains a steady 30 FPS if I set it to around Medium at 1600x900. Don't understand why you'd be suffering from so much worse performance than myself when my GPU is basically just an overclocked version of yours.
Lozzo87 said:
I almost hate to mention this because you seem so sure and certain of your convictions...but I wouldn't be doing you any favors by not responding...
The behavior you mention--fast,slow,fast,slow, frame-rate jerkiness, etc.--sounds unusual as opposed to something being experienced by a lot of people, so I wouldn't be so quick to write it off as a game bug or bugs. In fact, I'm running a non-overclocked Athlon x2 245 cpu at 2.9GHz, and an ATi HD 5770 w/1 gig onboard GDDR5 ram, 4 gigs of 800MHz DDR II system ram, and an Audigy 2Zs (accelerating sound in hardware for Witcher 2 via Creative's Alchemy/ALOpen configuration), running on Win7x64, and I get no jerkiness at all @1920x1080, and with practically every setting on high/Ultra, Vsync on--I average 30-35 fps throughout the game according to Fraps.So if I had to guess at the moment I'd say your gpu is lacking somewhat more than you might think. I say this because I have been pleasantly surprised to see that this 5770 by itself is darn near as fast as my former 2 x4850 Ati Crossfire system was (which now belongs to my son, the thief--nah, he stole it fair and square...
)! And without a doubt the IQ is certainly better. Among the 5000 series, this is a value card, too! Nowhere near top of the line. (Cost me ~$150.)Also--hopefully you are not running with ubersampling ON--because if you are then look no farther because that is your problem. Many, many people report massive frame skipping with Ubersampling turned on. If not that--it could be a number of things in your general configuration causing these behaviors. Overclocking instabilities, driver improprieties, driver setting mistakes relative to this game, and lots of other configuration things I can think of that could conceivably be causing this kind of behavior. It might also be a problem with some of your hardware, although I would eliminate the myriad of software possibilities before I'd start down the hardware path.
To start with, though--a new gpu certainly couldn't hurt, and as I say no need to spend an arm and a leg on a good one, either.
Hello, this is my first post on this forum and I want to say that I have this problem as well.
Intel i5 @ 3400 ( OCed)
8 gb Ram
Windows 7 64b
ATI HD 5850
The frame rate is usually good ( always above 40 fps and sometimes even stable at 60 ), however the frame-skipping/micro-stutter is massive
The game is basically unplayable for me.
One way I found to NOT have frame-skipping is to play the game in widowed mode ( full-screen Disabled ). The frame-skipping stops this way.
However I personally do not want to play a game like this in windowed mode, but this might shed some light as to what might be the issue...
You guys should also try to see if you still get frame-skipping while playing in windowed mode and report back!
Take care, and lets hope CDP can solve this...I would really love to play this game but I can't like this
Intel i5 @ 3400 ( OCed)
8 gb Ram
Windows 7 64b
ATI HD 5850
The frame rate is usually good ( always above 40 fps and sometimes even stable at 60 ), however the frame-skipping/micro-stutter is massive
The game is basically unplayable for me.
One way I found to NOT have frame-skipping is to play the game in widowed mode ( full-screen Disabled ). The frame-skipping stops this way.
However I personally do not want to play a game like this in windowed mode, but this might shed some light as to what might be the issue...
You guys should also try to see if you still get frame-skipping while playing in windowed mode and report back!
Take care, and lets hope CDP can solve this...I would really love to play this game but I can't like this
Thanks to everyone who are reporting here. This IS a problem with how the game is rendering the frames, and many others have the same issues (just google the witcher stuttering or frame skipping and you will see yourselves).
I just want to get the attention of game developers and perhaps they can help.
I think they are allowing the CPU to render to many frames ahead of the GPU, causing all these frame skips. The fact that many complain about mouselag in The witcher 2 means they do have delays within the game.
As mentioned by others, i do have GOOD framerate ingame, 40fps is fully acceptable, with drops to 30fps in flotsam forrest for example. Performance is not the problem, its simply the rendering.
I just want to get the attention of game developers and perhaps they can help.
I think they are allowing the CPU to render to many frames ahead of the GPU, causing all these frame skips. The fact that many complain about mouselag in The witcher 2 means they do have delays within the game.
As mentioned by others, i do have GOOD framerate ingame, 40fps is fully acceptable, with drops to 30fps in flotsam forrest for example. Performance is not the problem, its simply the rendering.
CalinTM said:
I don't think that the problem is with ATI 4000 series.
I run the game with custom settings (somewhere between medium and low), without OC and the FPS never falls from 30.
This is my gear..
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955
RAM: 4,00 GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 669MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
Display: W2242 (1680x1050@60Hz)
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series (XFX Pine Group)
HD : 313GB Seagate ST3320418AS ATA Device (SATA)
977GB Western Digital WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1 ATA Device (SATA)